Hindmost Defense
by Ignatuis Argetlam
Summary: After the defeat of the Elder Dragons, the lust for blood of the Charr was rekindled. The Sylvari and Asura were the first to fall, Maguuma burnt to the ground by the Charr. Hoelbrak and the Norn were next. The Charr have razed Tyria, and now humanity huddles in Divinities Reach. Either the gods return their favor, or we will need every human in Tyria to defeat the Charr.


**Hindmost Defense**

**Prologue**

_Clink, clink, clink_

"Blast, stop moving!" Countess Anise scolded. It was hard to stay still, since my armour was definelty not made for stealth. "You'd think a Captain would move with a little more stealth." There it was.

We were deep in the Ascalonian Catacombs, nearing The Heart of the Foefire. The stealth spell Anise had cast blocked of our visual image, but it didn't stop my armour from clinking.

"You remember the plan?" The leader of the Shining Blade asked. Of course I knew the plan! We had only gone over it 100 times. I sighed.

"Talk some sense into Adelbern and get him to gather the ghosts. After transporting them to Divinities Reach-"

"Only achievable because of the non-anchored form of matter. If they were as solid as you and I it would surely be impractical to attempt." She interrupted for no apparent reason.

"We grab Magdaer and head back ourselves." I continued.

"Exactly."

Gosh these catacombs creeped me out. They were a maze of scattered, random paths that were filled to the brim with ghosts. Don't even get me started on ghosts! It was sad enough seeing my ancestors in this eternal hellish form, but they seemed to know you were passing by, and stared into seemingly your very soul.

But it was okay, we had walked for about two hours of that and we were finally approaching the large hillrise or whatever you want to call it that Adelbern guarded. She told me to go first, so I softly padded up the stone stairs.

When I finally reached the top, I was surprised to find Adelbern sitting there in spirit form. He was sitting on a crude throne hewn out of rock. Beside him, still crashed in the stone rested Magdaer. He quickly sat up, I realized he heard me. I frantically looked around to find out how he knew, only to realize The Countess's spell had worn off, beautiful timing. Out of all the ghosts, Adelbern saddened me most. Once a great leader, he was cursed to this for all eternity. Waiting for a son that will never come. He was still wearing his crown and armour even.

"Who presents themselves!?" Adelbern commanded professionally. "Charr? Blasted Charr! Guards!" Several spirit archers materialized at his side. I layed my Greatsword on the ground and held up my hands, showing I meant no harm.

"I mean you no harm, great king. I myself come from your fallen kingdom. I only wish to talk." I explained.

"Let me introduce Ignatuis Toedlsten, Captain of the Seraph, Defender of Kryta, and Guardian of Humanity." My face stayed solid during the overzealous description, nevertheless, Adelbern's face lit up slightly during the last title.

"I assure you milord, we are not Charr or enemies, and we come with a proposal." After a long, excruciating wait, Adelbern simply stated,

"Continue."

"What would you give to have your people whole again, and Ascalon restored!"

"Anything!" he burst out without thinking, taking a step forward. He slowly sat down and continued, 'I pay dearly for my action made out of rage, and it saddens me greatly to see them in a state such as this."

"What if I said it could be reversed, your people restored to solid form, free to walk the earth."

"That is impossible!" Adelbern stated with a laugh. "If that if why you come here you waste my time."

"All of the remaining people of Ascalon have been tested for connections to your bloodline and this is the closest match, he will wield Magdaer and restore your people. We will transport you to Divinities Reach." Countess Anise explained.

"What can go wrong, I'm willing to try for the good of my people, should I gather the ghosts?"

"Not a problem your majesty, I have locked on to their particular lifeform signature, every ghost in Ascalon will soon be at the Gates of Divinities Reach." Anise stated, focusing with her first two fingers on her temple. Suddenly she slammed her hand into the ground, and up rose at least twenty solid clones of herself. Not apparitions or illusions, solid clones.

They all raised their hands at once, a pink vortex encircled them, and then everything turned black.

Luckily I wasn't knocked out, only dazed. Seeing everyone gone but a beckoning Countess, I grabbed Magdaer's handle and pulled it out of the stone. To my great surprise, it came out in full flaming sword form. Anise grabbed my hand and everything disappeared.

+.+.+.+

My feet landed on solid ground in Kryta. I nearly fell over, but one of my lieutenants, Josef, caught me. He brushed , me off and I quickly regained my composure. My eyes widened as I realized I was sitting in the middle of the street in Shaemoor, surrounded by an ocean of blue. It was uncanny; every single ghost was sitting there, staring at me, ready, everyone from the lowliest peasants, to the highest ranked captains, to Adelbern himself.

I didn't know what to do. We had talked about restoring the ghost's lots, but no one had ever told me how, exactly.

_Well, the Foefire was created by smashing Magdaer, should I do it again?_ No, that wouldn't do, Adelbern probably wants it back. If I focused, I could feel the power of Magdaer flow through my veins. It surged through my very soul, and then suddenly I knew exactly what to do.

I raised my sword to the sky and shouted, "Parfeyjal!"

Pure unbelievable force flowed through my veins, I felt invincible, until I nearly passed out from the exertion.

I stumbled, but I recovered and propped myself up on my knee, keeping the sword pointing to the sky. Slowly, a blue vortex started to swirl and gather at the tip of the sword. It got heavier to, as if it was solid rock. Gravity suddenly quadrupled, pressuring my body like the gods willed me to be a pancake. When I was sure I would crumble like parchment, a deafening noise broke through the air.

_POP!_

The noise came out of nowhere; it was as if gravity itself shifted for a moment. I got knocked onto my back and the sword fell at my side.

I opened my eyes slowly, seeing the sword being pulled from the dirt.

"Up you come son." An experienced, kind voice stated, the man grabbed my hand and he pulled me up, I opened my eyes to see King Adelburn staring at me.

"Adelburn..." I trailed off, another warm smile formed on his face. He had a perfectly trimmed white beard and smooth, creamy skin.

"Son." He placed his free hand on my right shoulder. "Thank you, you've freed me and my people from that madness."

I looked to my right and gasped.

A churning, moving sea of people, cheering at the top of their lungs. The vast, unfathomable amount of people still blew my mind, it flooded the entire town of Shaemoor, and there was still more people I couldn't see. Knights in shining armour, peasant in white tunics, Mages and Mesmers in fine robes, Ascalon had been saved.

People ran from Divinity's Reach, eager to find relatives they had thought lone gone, even after several generations might have past. Heartfelt reunions sprung everywhere; people turned and hugged the people sitting beside them out of happiness.

"Ascalon has been restored!" Adelburn cheered, raising Madgaer. The crowd exploded, now almost as many Kyrtans as Ascalonians.

"The human race once ruled Tyria." Adelburn began a speech, and everyone silenced. "Now, we face extinction." Good pick-me-up speech...

"We have been defeated, driven back, and broken, but we will not surrender! Nations have fallen, and now been reborn! The gods favor Divinity's Reach!" the crowd went wild, happy to have normal things like speeches a part of their lives after decades of torture.

You might want a bit of explanation. There were 5 races in Tyria, but now only two remain. I still remember when the Charr sailed in great iron ships towards Maguuma jungle. They brought weapons of godly power, and set the forest ablaze.

Not a single living thing made it out.

"When will you be satisfied Charr?" I murmured sadly under my breath. "How many thousand families destroyed, how many children slaughtered, how many cities burnt down, how many races exterminated, when will your thirst for blood end?" to think, every small child and baby, every woman and man, were burnt alive because of the will of the Charr.

Next was the Norn. They swept down from the mountains, great tall men taking on dozen Charr at a time, but even they fell under the infinite onslaught. Hoelbrak was their last stand, the battle barely lasted a day.

And now it's our turn. We once ruled Tyria, and the Charr have challenged us for the title themselves. They razed Kryta, now our entire population huddle in Divinities Reach. We look for allies, our old brothers in Ascalon have joined us again, but they are only the first.

The Battle will reach us soon, and we need allies, we need every human in the entire world.


End file.
